Your Social Group Made You A Drunk—It’s Maybe Not Your Parents’ Fault

New study alert! Apparently, your extended social group influences your alcohol consumption just as much as genetics and family history. I don’t know why they keep doing studies that could easily be written after spending one weekend on a college campus, but I guess since this study borrowed information from the Framingham Heart Study, they didn’t waste anyone’s time. The Heart study followed 12,000 people for 30 years and found that if your friends drink, you are 50 percent more likely to drink yourself. Even if a friend of a friend abuses alcohol, you’re 36 percent more likely to abuse it, too. [Asylum]Researchers hope this will help develop better alcohol treatment programs while alcohol manufacturing companies become literally drunk with power, eyes glistening as they witness the ripple effects of alcohol abuse. I know this is probably a breakthrough to some, but of course other people getting tipsy takes away any stigma attached to drinking. And if you’re making s’mores (or whatever sober people do) with teetotalers, you’re probably going to skip the booze. I’m going to publish a study called “When I drink alone, I get sad faster.” It’ll be brilliant. I guess the study will be comforting to parents everywhere since it proves that they’re not the only ones to blame for our alcohol problems! What do you guys think?